What do you like better Asus P4B266 or Asus P4S333, or another P4 board??

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Mavrick007

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Dec 19, 2001
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I have been hearing about all the good overclocks and speed out of the Northwood P4, so I was thinking about going with another Intel product again(haven't had one since my P166MMX). I am thinking about building a P4 1.6a machine and I've been looking at these two Asus boards: the P4B266 with the intel chipset and the P4S333 with the Sis645 chipset.

Which board is better for overclocking the P4? What board is more stable? What would most people recommend? The P4S333 supports DDR 333 while the P4B266 supports USB 2.0. Any ideas on what might be the better board in the long run, or does someone have another choice in a good P4 board for overclocking? Any ideas appreciated.
 
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ToBeMe

Diamond Member
Jun 21, 2000
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The P4S333 is fine and seems stable as a rock for me, but, as far as overclocking goes, I actually have to bump voltage more in the P4S333 than I do on my TH7II-RAID to acheive the same overclock!:( My TH7II will do 2.6 on my 2.2 Northwood at 1.6V.................on the P4S333 another 2.2 needed 1.65V to get to 2.6! So, I thought it must be the chip because the DDR based board should be a better overclocker and require less V. right???? Switched the chips and now they are in oppisite boards..........the TH7II will still take this 2.2 to 2.6 at 1.6V, the P4S333 still needs 1.65V to get the same 2.6 overclock!:(

Both will also make 2.8, but I don't like the high V.'s on this new Northwoods so I've only expierimented with the overclocks for a short time. The TH7II will do 2.8 at 1.65V., the P4S333 will also do 2.8 with a 2.2 Northwood, but, requires 1.75V. which IMHO is higher than I'm willing to allow it to run day-to-day.

As for the P4B266's........I've built a few, but honestly, I'm not nearly as impressed with them as the SiS645 boards or the i850's! I know, the i850's require use of RDRAM, but, to be honest, with prices closer all the time, and PC1066 available in late Q2 according to sources, it's really still the best alternative for a P4 IMHO! I don't give a hoot what B/M's someone is able to come up with saying their DDR based board is "nearly up to" RDRAM numbers.......my P4S333 SiS board is running Corsair PC2700 DDRRAM and the TH7II eats it for lunch in nearly every B/M I've run side by side and this is still with PC800 (O/C'ed of course) but I can't wait to get some PC1066 and possibly the 133FSB chips by late Q2!;) IMO, get what is going to provide top performance for the chip you plan to build around for the system you're building, and in the instance of the P4, this still appears to be RDRAM. Next best IMO would be the SiS645 boards especially the P4S333, but make sure you go with PC2700 for max performance, and if you do, you're already above RDRAM costs...............
 
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Mavrick007

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Dec 19, 2001
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That's true, I believe that the way to go with the P4 is with RDram (even though I'm against Rambus), but for me, I do have an XP system and I have 2 sticks of PC2100 DDR 256Meg.. I was thinking about doing a DDR P4 system and take out one stick of the PC2100 and putting it in the other machine. That way I don't have to buy new ram. I'm not sure if it's worth my time or not to also buy a Northwood system, even though it is very tempting.
 
GTaudiophile

GTaudiophile

Lifer
Oct 24, 2000
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The Abit TH7II seems to be the board of choice these days. It's certainly not bad. With that said, I have an ASUS P4B266 and am quite happy with it. I am one of the very few, though, who bought the board with a P4 2.0A and won't overclock...at least for now.
 
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Soulflare

Golden Member
Apr 16, 2000
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There's already like a 40 post thread comparing these two boards in the Motherboards forum.
 
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Daovonnaex

Golden Member
Dec 16, 2001
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RDRAM is superior solution, therefore I recommend either an Asus P4T-E (rock solid, excellent performer) or an ABIT TH7II RAID (highest overclocks...ever).
 
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dbwillis

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Mar 19, 2001
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No problems here with my P4S333/1.6a combo..138x16 (2308mhz) at 1.55v...was running 144x16 with 1.575v but got a BSOD after streaming radio for over 14 hours or so..not sure if it was the overclock or a driver issue (media player was full screen for most of the 14 hours)
 
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ToBeMe

Diamond Member
Jun 21, 2000
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The P4T-E is a damned fine board especially if you simply want a stable solution and don't plan upon doing a lot of overclocking. In my expierience, the P4T-E will overclock fine, but, it needs more of a V-Core boost to acheive the same overclock as the TH7II! The board I tried needed 1.65V to get to 2.6 with a 2.2 Northwood, and 1.75 to get to 2.7!!:Q The same chip in my TH7II does 2.6 at 1.6V and 2.8 at 1.65V! Tat's the only reason IMHO the TH7II is a better solution..........if you don't plan on overclocking, the P4T-E is every bit as good as the TH7II!:)
 
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Daovonnaex

Golden Member
Dec 16, 2001
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<< The P4T-E is a damned fine board especially if you simply want a stable solution and don't plan upon doing a lot of overclocking. In my expierience, the P4T-E will overclock fine, but, it needs more of a V-Core boost to acheive the same overclock as the TH7II! The board I tried needed 1.65V to get to 2.6 with a 2.2 Northwood, and 1.75 to get to 2.7!!:Q The same chip in my TH7II does 2.6 at 1.6V and 2.8 at 1.65V! Tat's the only reason IMHO the TH7II is a better solution..........if you don't plan on overclocking, the P4T-E is every bit as good as the TH7II!:) >>

If you don't overclock greatly, the P4T-E is technically a superior solution, since it performs slightly better.
 
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ToBeMe

Diamond Member
Jun 21, 2000
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<<

<< The P4T-E is a damned fine board especially if you simply want a stable solution and don't plan upon doing a lot of overclocking. In my expierience, the P4T-E will overclock fine, but, it needs more of a V-Core boost to acheive the same overclock as the TH7II! The board I tried needed 1.65V to get to 2.6 with a 2.2 Northwood, and 1.75 to get to 2.7!!:Q The same chip in my TH7II does 2.6 at 1.6V and 2.8 at 1.65V! That's the only reason IMHO the TH7II is a better solution..........if you don't plan on overclocking, the P4T-E is every bit as good as the TH7II!:) >>

If you don't overclock greatly, the P4T-E is technically a superior solution, since it performs slightly better. >>


I saw absolutely no evidence of that in side by side comparisons of both. The B/M's were nearly even on all tests with the TH7II eeking out small victories in some tests and the P4T-E in others, but, overall all tests were within the margin for error and the main point of making my decsion was the ability of the TH7II to overclock with less voltage and still be every bit as stable!:) IMHO if a board can not overclock to the same frquency at the same voltage and be every bit as stable, the one which can acheive this with less voltage bump is the supeior board. Add to this the fact that the P4T-E could not complete a number of tests while O/C'ed at 2.8/1.75V and the decsion was easy as to which i850 board to keep for myself......;)
 
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ToBeMe

Diamond Member
Jun 21, 2000
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<< I think the Abit board has newer (600mhz?) clock generators... >>


The newer revisions do.........;)
 
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Mavrick007

Diamond Member
Dec 19, 2001
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If you're not going to go Rambus, at least for awhile, what is the best P4 board with the most features right now?
 
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Athlon4all

Diamond Member
Jun 18, 2001
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<< If you're not going to go Rambus, at least for awhile, what is the best P4 board with the most features right now? >>

Top 2 in my book are Asus P4B266-C for no-thrills, but super ocing board. MSi 845 Ultra ARU for loads of features very decent ocing, and a great price as well
 
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